♥ Happy Valentine’s Day♥
Let’s start with me accidentally deleting my entire website homepage. Not “hid it.” Not “moved it to drafts.” Deleted. Gone. Vanished into the portal you’ll read about if you keep going. On the bright side, if homepage rebuilding burned calories, I’d have abs by now.
While my homepage was playing a game of Now You See Me, Now You Don’t (and I definitely prefer hide-and-seek), I’ve been in Procreate working on my illustrations. This is when I’m hyper-focused, and the ADHD takes a backseat. Well… until I become hyper-focused on things being perfect. But I do not have time for that, so I’m happy to say I just keep moving.
Nothing about this process has been smooth, easy, or as promised. It’s more like when the grandsons and I are on the golf cart, driving it as if it has monster tires and is indestructible. (True story, and yes, I’m the driver.)
And you know what?
The Illustrations are actually turning out exactly how I imagined them. ♥
Sleep Over
We had our grandsons spend the night, and I’m convinced they are secretly stand‑up comedians in tiny human bodies.
The things they say.
The actions and sounds.
The completely serious conversations about the most random topics.
My husband and I sit there looking at each other like:
“Did he really just say that?”
“Yes. Yes, he did.” 🤣
Honestly, if fun could be bottled, it would sound like these two laughing ~ and I could sell it and make millions.
Backyard Portal
One of last week’s events:
Ivey disappeared.
Not in a “She’s behind the couch” way.
In a “full neighborhood search, driving and yelling her name like two panicked lunatics” way.
We walked the property while calling her name, and we even had reinforcements: Rocket and Kieser.
So we each got into a vehicle and started driving through the neighborhood.
I came back by the house to check the yard while driving in a different direction.
There she was ~ in the backyard, behind the fence, looking at me like, “Where did you all go?”
Needless to say, we were still stumped and looked again.
Walked the fence line.
Inspected every possible escape route.
Nothing. No holes. No gaps. No dog‑sized exit to freedom.
At this point, the only logical explanation is:
We have a portal. (Her tracker has been ordered!)
My Valentine from the Universe
(Not perfect, but real.)
Messy life.
Creative progress.
Grandson giggles.
A husband who will search the neighborhood for the dog with me.
And a mysterious backyard portal.
I’ll take it.
I’ll end with this
I did not complete everything I planned to complete this past week…
…but I:
* made art I’m proud of
* made memories
* discovered a possible portal in the yard (I will investigate this more later)
* and only panicked about my website a little bit… oh hell, I cried
So if your week was chaotic, creative, funny, or slightly unexplainable…
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY. You’re my people.
Tricia Alayne
Chief Website Deleter, Portal Investigator, and Illustrator in Training
I Deleted My Website Homepage, Found My Procreate Mojo, and Apparently Own a Portal to Another Dimension
